Act One Scene Three of the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare depicts the typical protracted leave-taking of a young couple newly in love. They both know they must part and the theme of Time and Haste is played out as the clock ticks and the stars and palnets mark time for Romeo. The earth moves round, the sun cannot be stopped from rising and the young couple seem truly 'star-cross'd.' They play at testing the options, for Romeo to stay on and be arrested but really neither of them wants him to be killed. The fact that this is going to happen anyway is shown as a presentiment by Juliet imagining him as being as pale as a corpse. Juliet wishes the bird they hear in the dawn was a nightingale and not a sky lark. That would mean they had a few more minutes of precious time before dawn broke.

At first, Juliet wants Romeo to stay and is trying to convince him it's still the middle of the night. She tells him it is a night bird that he is hearing, not one that makes noise near to sunrise. She tells him it's a meteor he is seeing that is making the light, not the sun.

But then Romeo says he doesn't want to go -- he says it's fine if they catch him and kill him, he doesn't care. So then Juliet decides he'd better go so that he can live to see another day.

She says he looks pale as if he's in a tomb -- it's foreshadowing how he'll look the next time she sees him.